In-bed laying an underwater pipeline normally comprises laying the pipeline along a given path on the bed of the body of water; fragmenting a soil mass along the path to a given depth; digging a trench or generally removing the fragmented soil mass; and possibly burying the pipeline.
More specifically, currently used known techniques comprise removing the fragmented soil mass to form a trench in the bed of the body of water; and laying the pipeline directly into the trench. The pipeline may later be covered over with the removed soil mass to fill in the trench and bury the pipeline.
Underwater pipelines carrying hydrocarbons are normally laid completely or partly underground for various reasons, some of which are discussed below. Underwater pipelines are normally laid underground close to shore approaches and in relatively shallow water, to protect them from damage by blunt objects, such as anchors or fishing nets, and are sometimes laid underground to protect them from natural agents, such as wave motion and currents, which may result in severe stress. That is, when a pipeline is laid on the bed of a body of water, it may span two supporting areas of the bed, i.e. a portion of the pipeline may be raised off the bed; in which case, the pipeline is particularly exposed to, and offers little resistance to the movements induced by, wave motion and currents. Underground laying may also be required for reasons of thermal instability, which result in deformation (upheaval/lateral buckling) of the pipeline, or to protect the pipeline from the mechanical action of ice, which, in particularly shallow water, may result in scouring of the bed.
To avoid damage, the pipeline often need simply be laid at the bottom of a suitably deep trench dug before laying (pre-trenching) or more often after laying the pipeline (post-trenching). At times, the protection afforded by the trench and eventual natural backfilling of the trench is not enough, and the pipeline must be buried using the fragmented soil mass removed from the trench, or any available soil mass alongside the trench.
The depth of the trench is normally such that the top line of the pipeline is roughly a meter below the surface of the bed, though severe environmental conditions may sometimes call for deeper trenches (of several meters). Trenching and backfilling are performed using digging equipment, and post-trenching (with the pipeline already laid on the bed) is the normal practice, to dig and backfill the trench in one go.
One method of in-bed laying underwater pipelines is described in Patent Application WO 2005/005736. This is a post-trenching method comprising the steps of fragmenting a soil mass in the bed to open the way; and drawing along the opening a huge plough, to form a trench, and vertical supporting walls connected to the plough and which respectively support two opposite soil masses bounded by two substantially vertical scarp slopes.
The above method has the drawback of being highly energy-intensive, due partly to the plough, and partly to friction between the supporting walls and the two soil masses. And energy consumption increases exponentially alongside an increase in trench depth.
Another method of in-bed laying underwater pipelines is described in Patent Application WO 2004/016366, which proposes fragmenting a soil mass in the bed, and removing the fragmented soil mass using a dredging unit on board a support vessel. That is, the fragmented soil mass is first sucked up from the bed along a dredging path up onto the support vessel, and then dumped back into the trench.
This method is also highly energy-intensive to draw the fragmented soil mass up onto the support vessel. Moreover, the scarp slopes are susceptible to slide; the method is unsuitable for in-depth laying underwater pipelines; and, in the event of slide, the pumps and conduits are called on to remove additional fragmented soil masses, thus further increasing energy consumption.